Wanton Definitions

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

WANTON, a.
1. Wandering or roving in gaiety or sport; sportive; frolicsome; darting aside, or one way and the other. Wanton boys kill flies for sport.
Not a wild and wanton herd.
2. Moving or flying loosely; playing in the wind.
She her unadorned golden tresses wore disheveld, but in wanton ringlets wavd.
3. Wandering from moral rectitude; licentious; dissolute; indulging in sensuality without restraint; as men grown wanton by prosperity.
My plenteous joys, wanton in fullness--
4. More appropriately, deviating from the rules of chastity; lewd; lustful; lascivious; libidinous.
Thou art froward by nature, enemy to peace, lascivious wanton.
Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton. James 5.
5. Disposed to unchastity; indicating wantonness. Isaiah 3.
6. Loose; unrestrained; running to excess.
How does your tongue grow wanton in her praise!
7. Luxuriant; overgrown.
What we by day lop overgrown, one night or two with wanton growth derides, tending to wild.
8. Extravagant; as wanton dress.
9. Not regular; not turned or formed with regularity.
The quaint mazes in the wanton green.
WANTON, n.
1. A lewd person; a lascivious man or woman.
2. A trifler; an insignificant flutterer.
3. A word of slight endearment.
Peace, my wanton--[Little used.]
WANTON, v.t.
1. To rove and ramble without restraint, rule or limit; to revel; to play loosely.
Nature here wantond as in her prime.
Her golden tresses wanton in the wind.
2. To ramble in lewdness; to play lasciviously.
3. To move briskly and irregularly.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: occurring without motivation or provocation; "motiveless malignity"; "unprovoked and dastardly attack"- F.D.Roosevelt [syn: motiveless, unprovoked, wanton]
2: casual and unrestrained in sexual behavior; "her easy virtue"; "he was told to avoid loose (or light) women"; "wanton behavior" [syn: easy, light, loose, promiscuous, sluttish, wanton] n
1: lewd or lascivious woman v
1: waste time; spend one's time idly or inefficiently [syn: piddle, wanton, wanton away, piddle away, trifle]
2: indulge in a carefree or voluptuous way of life
3: spend wastefully; "wanton one's money away" [syn: wanton, wanton away, trifle away]
4: become extravagant; indulge (oneself) luxuriously [syn: luxuriate, wanton]
5: engage in amorous play
6: behave extremely cruelly and brutally

Merriam Webster's

I. adjective Etymology: Middle English, from wan- deficient, wrong, mis- (from Old English, from wan deficient) + towen, past participle of teen to draw, train, discipline, from Old English t?on — more at tow Date: 14th century 1. a. archaic hard to control ; undisciplined, unruly b. playfully mean or cruel ; mischievous 2. a. lewd, bawdy b. causing sexual excitement ; lustful, sensual 3. a. merciless, inhumane <wanton cruelty> b. having no just foundation or provocation ; malicious <a wanton attack> 4. being without check or limitation: as a. luxuriantly rank <wanton vegetation> b. unduly lavish ; extravagant <wanton imagination> • wantonly adverb • wantonness noun II. noun Date: 1509 1. a. one given to self-indulgent flirtation or trifling — used especially in the phrase play the wanton b. a lewd or lascivious person 2. a pampered person or animal ; pet; especially a spoiled child 3. a frolicsome child or animal III. verb Date: 1582 intransitive verb to be wanton or act wantonly transitive verb to pass or waste wantonly or in wantonness • wantoner noun

English Explanatory Dictionary

n. Brit. hist. (in areas of England with a large Danish population) a divisionof a shire; a hundred. [OE wópen(ge)tóc f. ON vÁpnatak f. vÁpn weapon + taktaking f. taka TAKE: perh. with ref. to voting in assembly by show of weapons]

English Explanatory Dictionary

n. Brit. hist. (in areas of England with a large Danish population) a divisionof a shire; a hundred. [OE wópen(ge)tóc f. ON vÁpnatak f. vÁpn weapon + taktaking f. taka TAKE: perh. with ref. to voting in assembly by show of weapons]

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj., n., & v. --adj. 1 licentious; lewd; sexually promiscuous. 2 capricious; random; arbitrary; motiveless (wanton destruction; wanton wind). 3 luxuriant; unrestrained (wanton profusion). 4 archaic playful; sportive (a wanton child). --n. literary an immoral or licentious person, esp. a woman. --v.intr. literary 1 gambol; sport; move capriciously. 2 (foll. by with) behave licentiously. Derivatives: wantonly adv. wantonness n. Etymology: ME wantowen (wan- UN-(1) + towen f. OE togen past part. of teon discipline, rel. to TEAM)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Wanton Wan"ton, n. 1. A roving, frolicsome thing; a trifler; -- used rarely as a term of endearment. I am afeard you make a wanton of me. --Shak. Peace, my wantons; he will do More than you can aim unto. --B. Jonson. 2. One brought up without restraint; a pampered pet. Anything, sir, That's dry and wholesome; I am no bred wanton. --Beau. & Fl. 3. A lewd person; a lascivious man or woman.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Wanton Wan"ton, a. [OE. wantoun, contr. from wantowen; pref. wan- wanting (see Wane, v. i.), hence expressing negation + towen, p. p., AS. togen, p. p. of te['o]n to draw, to educate, bring up; hence, properly, ill bred. See Tug, v. t.] 1. Untrained; undisciplined; unrestrained; hence, loose; free; luxuriant; roving; sportive. ``In woods and wanton wilderness.'' --Spenser. ``A wild and wanton herd.'' --Shak. A wanton and a merry [friar]. --Chaucer. [She] her unadorned golden tresses wore Disheveled, but in wanton ringlets waved. --Milton. How does your tongue grow wanton in her praise! --Addison. 2. Wandering from moral rectitude; perverse; dissolute. ``Men grown wanton by prosperity.'' --Roscommon. 3. Specifically: Deviating from the rules of chastity; lewd; lustful; lascivious; libidinous; lecherous. Not with wanton looking of folly. --Chaucer. [Thou art] froward by nature, enemy to peace, Lascivious, wanton. --Shak. 4. Reckless; heedless; as, wanton mischief.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Wanton Wan"ton, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Wantoned; p. pr. & vb. n. Wantoning.] 1. To rove and ramble without restraint, rule, or limit; to revel; to play loosely; to frolic. Nature here wantoned as in her prime. --Milton. How merrily we would sally into the fields, and strip under the first warmth of the sun, and wanton like young dace in the streams! --Lamb. 2. To sport in lewdness; to play the wanton; to play lasciviously.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Wanton Wan"ton, v. t. To cause to become wanton; also, to waste in wantonness. [Obs.]

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

1. A wanton action deliberately causes harm, damage, or waste without having any reason to. ...this unnecessary and wanton destruction of our environment... ADJ: usu ADJ n 2. If someone describes a woman as wanton, they disapprove of her because she clearly enjoys sex or has sex with a lot of men. ...the idea that only wanton women have sexual passions. ADJ [disapproval]

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. a. 1. Wandering, loose, unrestrained, unchecked, free. 2. Luxuriant, exuberant, abounding, rank, rampant, overgrown. 3. Sportive, frolicsome, playful, gay, frisky, coltish, airy, skittish. 4. Dissolute, licentious, irregular, loose. 5. Incontinent, prurient, lustful, lewd, lascivious, lecherous, carnal, salacious, libidinous, concupiscent, lickerish, unchaste, loose. 6. Reckless, heedless, careless, inconsiderate, needless, groundless, gratuitous, wilful. II. n. Lewd person. III. v. n. 1. Revel, frolic, sport, play, disport, frisk, romp, caper. 2. Luxuriate, live luxuriously, live in clover. 3. Toy, trifle, play, sport, dally amorously.

Moby Thesaurus

Adamic, Casanova, Don Juan, Jezebel, Lothario, Paphian, abandoned, accident-prone, adrift, afloat, alternating, amorphous, arbitrary, backsliding, bad woman, baggage, bat, baton, be promiscuous, bill and coo, billy club, bitch, bludgeon, breakneck, broad, capricious, careless, carnal, carouse, celebrate, chambering, changeable, changeful, chase women, chippy, clitoromaniac, club, cocotte, commit adultery, contrary, coo, copulate, cranky, crotchety, cut loose, cyprian, dally, debauch, debauchee, desperate, desultory, deviable, devil-may-care, dissipate, dizzy, drab, easy, easy lay, easy woman, eccentric, erratic, erring, fallen, fanciful, fantasied, fantastic, fast and loose, fickle, fitful, flaky, fleshly, flickering, flighty, flirt, flitting, floozy, fluctuating, fool, fornicate, frail, frail sister, freakish, furious, gallant, gay deceiver, gay dog, giddy, go-go, gratuitous, grisette, grovel, harebrained, harridan, harum-scarum, hasty, headlong, hell around, hotheaded, humorsome, hurried, hussy, hysteromaniac, immoderate, impetuous, impulsive, impure, inconsistent, inconstant, incontinent, indecisive, indulgent, infirm, intemperate, irregular, irrepressible, irresolute, irresponsible, jade, jezebel, jollify, jolly, kinky, lady-killer, lapsed, lark, lax, lead, let go, let loose, let off steam, libertine, licentious, light, live hard, lollygag, loose, loose woman, loose-moraled, lover-boy, mace, mad, maggoty, make love, make merry, make out, make whoopee, malevolent, malicious, mazy, mercurial, moody, motiveless, neck, nonrestrictive, notional, nymphet, nympho, nymphomaniac, of easy virtue, of loose morals, out of control, out of hand, overeager, overenthusiastic, overzealous, peccable, permissive, perverse, pet, petulant, philander, philanderer, pickup, pig, plunge into dissipation, postlapsarian, precipitant, precipitate, precipitous, prodigal, profligate, promiscuous, prostitute, quean, quirky, raise hell, rake, rakehell, rambling, rampant, recidivist, recidivistic, reckless, reinless, restless, revel, riotous, rip, roister, roue, rounder, roving, run riot, scatterbrained, see life, shapeless, shifting, shifty, shillelagh, shuffling, skirt chaser, skylark, slack, slap-bang, slapdash, slattern, sleep around, slut, smooch, spasmodic, spineless, spiteful, spoon, spree, step out, strumpet, sweet-talk, swing, swinger, tart, temperamental, toy, tramp, trifle, trollop, trull, truncheon, unaccountable, unangelic, unasked, unbridled, uncalled-for, uncertain, unchaste, unchecked, unclean, uncoerced, uncompelled, unconstrained, uncontrolled, uncurbed, undependable, undisciplined, unfixed, unforced, ungodly, ungood, ungoverned, uninhibited, unmastered, unmeasured, unmuzzled, unpredictable, unreasonable, unreined, unreliable, unrepressed, unreserved, unrestrained, unrestrictive, unrighteous, unruly, unsaintly, unsettled, unstable, unstable as water, unstaid, unsteadfast, unsteady, unsubdued, unsuppressed, unvirtuous, uteromaniac, vacillating, vagarious, vagrant, variable, vicissitudinary, vicissitudinous, virtueless, volatile, walking phallus, wallow, wandering, war club, wavering, wavery, wavy, wayward, weak, wench, whimsical, whisper sweet nothings, whoop it up, whore, whorish, wild, wishy-washy, wolf, woman chaser, womanize, womanizer